Clamp keeper clip



April 30, 1940.

c. s. CARD 1 370 CLAMP KEEPER CLIP 'Filed Sept. 12, 1938 i leis 25 C S CINVENTOR. was =0. E fie. 5. BY I 3 g ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 39. 1940 CLAMP KEEPER CLIP Charles- S. Card, Cortland, N. Y., assignorto The Brewer-Titchener Corporation, Cortland, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application September 12, 1938, Serial No. 229,519

' 4 Claims. (01. 24-425) This invention broadly relates to compactly disposed two-part clamping devices for holding electric conductors, and more particularly has to do with a self-contained, pivotally mounted keeper part for clip bodies, dead end clamps or the like arranged to properly retain a transmission conductor or other cable in a relatively wide range of diametral sizes by one and the same clamp assembly while subjected to high mechanical tension, and in which the keeper grip of such clamped cable is perimetrically distributed over a substantial length .to obviate injury or a resulting weakening of the cable.

Opposed longitudinal jaw faces of my concavoconcave keeper are reversely grooved in appropriate radii to perimetrically embrace cable diameters of different sizes and in which the groove profile curvature centers lie inv a common plane. .An aperture is interposedperpendicular to said plane and between such dished jaw faces through which a rectilinear yoke portion of .a U-bolt or a corresponding portion of a headed J-bolt is entered as a pivotal mounting. Both of said keeper faces may readily be turned in unison about the yoke axis without keeper removal and; brought into a selected operative clamping posi. tion without having to dismantle said bolt. Such trunnionlike keeper mounting finds wide application to wire clamping purposes and is especially suited to simultaneously gripa pair of longitudinally superimposed cables without excessively crushing or laterally distorting the aligned registry thereof.

The primary object of my improvements is to devise a simple and effective clamp adjunct of the character indicated that can be easily forged and assembled in place at the minimum of labor and other production costs.

Embodied herein are also an associated clip companying one sheet drawing which is illustrative of a certain preferred keeper embodiment and in which drawing:

Fig. 1 schematically depicts my keeper and clip 7 operatively applied to a dead end cable retainer.

Fig. 2 represents a plan view of a clip assembly; Fig. 3 shows an elevational view taken along the section 3--3 of Fig. '2, while Fig. 4 is taken cross-sectionally along 4-4 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 illustrates an end view of Fig.2 but in which the keeper has been rotated to bring a different jaw face into use.

" Fig. 6 is a perspective view of my pivoted keeper and associated fastening bolt when removed from its clamp body.

Fig. 7 corresponds to Fig. 4 but shows a modified or headed J-bolt keeper mounting.

Referring first to Fig. 1, this illustrates one common use for my assembled cable clip H1 in which a high tension feed conductor l I is carried around the insulator I! as supported by the pole line holder bracket 13. The tail end 14 of such looped or dead ended conductor is usually-carried to a service outlet. -When installed, both cables H and I l are intended to be threaded through such clip in axially superimposed relationship. By the use of my reversible keeper, its selective concave faces afford ready means whereby one of such stacked cables may be closely embraced perimetrically and tightly clamped against release without loss of axial registry or tendency to unduly crush its mate. By virtue ofsuch snug My rotatable keeper l5 may be pivotally 'mounted upon the yoke region of the U-bolt it (see Fig. 6-). Such bolt'preferably comprises a substantially rectilinear medial portion l1 terminating in sharp-1y bent knee portions such as I 8 whose radius of curvature R3 may be made about equal to the shank diameter d. Said keeper intermediate its length is transversely apertur'ed at l9 and may have one or both aperture ends chamfered as at 20 to freely clear an adjacent knee portion. Such bevel also permits of sharply bending one U-bolt leg 2| without binding eifeots after the keeper has been assembled into place. i

The aperture 19 is preferably made slightly elliptical and elongated somewhat longitudinally of the keeper as in Fig. 2. The minor axis of such aperture provides for a snug diametral fit to the bolt yoke while the major axis extends lengthwise of the keeper to afford suitable clearance whereby an engaged groove is enabled by a swivel action to adjust itself sidewise into unrestrained axial alignment should a'gripp'ed cable be laterally cooked with respect to the plane of the bolt shanks. The opposed side faces 22 and 23 of this rotatable concavo-concave keeper are respectively dished to a relatively large radius the reversely concaved faces 22. and 23.

R2 and a smaller radius R! which allows of selectively utilizing one or the other of such concaved faces in accordance with the size of wire that is to be clampingly embraced. The groove profile is preferably kept smooth and free from spiral ribs in order to universally receive both solid and stranded Wires and it will be observed that the respective curvature centers of such alternative profiles lie in a common plane coincident with the center line of the body seat 26.

Fig. 4 shows the R2 dished face 22 applied to a pair of large superimposed cables such as 24,

while Fig. 5 shows the reversed face 23 applied to a pair of smaller cables such as 25. The clip body or base plate 2? is preferably die-forged by having its part line located along AB. This body shape provides for a grooved seat it whose dished radius may be made equal to the face radius R2 and thereby snugly receive the larger wire 24, as indicated.

When this lower seat is loaded with a pair of smaller wires in the Fig. 5 manner, there is a tendency to allow the seated lower wire 25 to roll laterally from beneath the clamped wire superimposed thereon. By resorting to the keeper face 23 having a correspondingly smaller groove radius R the snugly embraced top wire is stabilized against lateral shift, which in turn substantially maintains both smaller wires against sidewise slip or relative collapse.

Each U-bolt shank end may be threaded and equipped with a clamping nut 28 having a split washer 29 thereunder. In. order to guide my 5 tiltable keeper l5 while the adjusting nuts are applied, the platelike body 2'? may be provided with upstanding relatively long pilot posts or mated stanc-hions such as 3%! and 3! that straddle a contracted tip region of the raised keeper and serve to guide the same into its assembled positiopn. Said body may also have outstanding apertured ears such as 33 through whichthe respective bolt shanks are entered for nut attachment.

The medial region of my keeper is preferably reenforced radially about its aperture it into complementary bosses such as 33 to shape up centrally disposed protuberances or small groove ridges 34 and 35 which respectively merge with The extremities of said keeper may be reduced in width relative to that of thebcsses Bias in Fig. 2 to allow of compactly erecting the stanchions upon comparatively small body confines. As shown in Fig, 7, a headed L shaped or so-called J-bolt may likewise be resorted to. particularly in smaller clamp sizes. The apertured keeper Al is freely pivoted on such bolt out retained against displacement. The cooperating base plate 42 thereof may substantially conform to the corresponding body element of Fig. 4. The maximum overall throat spacing between the cable grooves may herein be held to less than twice the diametral size of the cylindrical yoke l! and thereby afford a compact but inherently strong apertured bridge structure between the forged' keeper extremities.

While my self-contained keeper unit has been more specifically described in association with a clip base 21, the present innovation represents a commodity that may be independently marketed for sundry clamping purposes, it being likewise appropriate for firmly securing either single or twin conductors in V-shaped grooves of snubbing dead end clamps, also when used for smooth bore suspension or strain clamps and the like high tension or pole line hardware. Such pivoted mounting permits the keeper to tiltingly accommodate itself lengthwise of the clamped cable perimeter. By affording an equalized long bearing thereon, the gripped cable does not become injured by concentrated loading nor is its tension correspondingly restricted when taking up abnormal sag in a long span. Both the guide stanchions and the threaded U-bolt shanks are purposely made sufficiently long to permit reversal of my differently concaved keeper faces without nut removal.

For intermediate cable sizes, the nearest accurately fitting keeper face is intended to be brought into engagement with any given cable perimeter. it being pointed out that a standardized line of diverse sizes of such clamps are commonly marketed to meet the needs of widely different conductor diameters. The augmented contact surface afforded by such keeper units, has by test been found to hold against slipup to the elastic limit of clamped cable material falling within the range of diametral size which a particular clip was designed to carry, there being no need for interposing any separately inserted loose pieces not positively associated with a clamping bolt.

Other inherent advantages will be apparent to those skilled in this art, it being understood that various changes in structural clamp details or the keeper thereof may be resorted to in carrying out the present teachings, all without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention heretofore described and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a two-part clamp having a gripped cable: interposed therebetween, one part of said clamp comprising. a body member and the other an elongated keeper member of concave-concavecrosssectional profile including a pair of oppositely grooved side faces. that are reverselyconcaved to difierent-radii of which the respective groove profile curvature centers substantially lie in a common plane, said keeper being provided with a fulcrum receiving aperture located between said faces and extending perpendicularly through said plane and which aperture has an elliptical cross-sectional contour whose major axis is disposed in substantial alignment with the keeper length,. and adjustablebolt means comprising. ashank together with an adjoined. angularly disposed fulcrum portion that is retainedly entered through said aperture and pivotally mounts the keeper thereon, both of said side faces being simultaneously rotatable in the aforesaid plane about such pivotal mounting. to selectively bring either face into clamping contact with the interposed cable.

2. In a two-part clamp having a gripped cable interposed therebetwecn, one part of said clamp comprising an elongated keeper member of concavo-concave cross-sectional profile including a pair of opposed side faces that are reversely concaved to different radii respectively adapted to selectively grip corresponding diametral cable sizes, the respective face tips being narrower than the corresponding medial face region and which keeper has an aperture disposed crosswise of the keeper length in an interposed relationship to said side faces, an adjustable U-bolt including a yoke portion entered through said aperture and as a unit pivotally mounts the keeper thereon, both of said side faces being simultaneously rotatable about the yoke axis to selectively bring either face into clamping contact with said interposed cable, and which other clamp part comprises a body member including a seated base portion having mated pilot posts that straddle a tip region of the respective keeper faces I 3. In a two part clamp having a gripped cable interposed therebetween, one part of said clamp comprising a body member and the other an elongated keeper member of concavo-concave cross-sectional profile including a pair of opposed side faces that are reversely grooved with different radii respectively adapted to selectively grip corresponding diametral cable sizes and the respective medial regions of which concaved side faces are each shaped to provide for a protuberance extending crosswise of the keeper length; said protuberances being interconnectingly reenforced by a boss and said keeper having anaperture disposed intermediate the face protuberances, and adjustable bolt means including a shank portion and an adjacent angularly disposed portion that is entered through said aperture to pivotally mount the keeper thereon, both of said faces being simultaneously rotatable about the axis of the angularly disposed portion to selectively bring either face into clamping contact with the interposed cable.

plane and the respective extremities of which twin grooves are disposed in substantial parallelism, said keeper intermediate its extremities having an aperture of elliptical cross-sectional profile located between said faces of which the major profile axis extends lengthwise of said faces and the overall bottom spacing between said twin grooves is compactly held within twice the length of the minor profile axis of said aperture, and bolt means including a yoke portion being entered through said'aperture to constitute a self-contained unit of which both keeper side faces are simultaneously and unobstructedly rotatable about the yoke axis in the aforesaid plane.

CHARLES S. CARD. 

